Jets' Aaron Maybin seeking more playing time and more success in second season

William Perlman/THE STAR-LEDGER via US PRESSWIREAaron Maybin has created a buzz with his pass-rushing skills this summer during the Jets' training camp.

CORTLAND, N.Y. — Mark Sanchez had a matter of seconds to get the ball off, before the newly implemented buzzer expired. But before either could happen on the practice field earlier this week, Aaron Maybin came charging toward the Jets quarterback, looming over him with barely enough space to protect the sanctity of the red non-contact jersey.

A few hours later, in the university cafeteria, coach Rex Ryan pulled Maybin aside to deliver a message: Love the effort, but …

“I got a little bit too close to ‘The Sanchize’ and scared everybody,” Maybin recalled with a laugh. “He started scrambling and you know me, I don’t like that whole quarterbacks-running-around type deal. I like letting them know that they would have got got.”

Maybin doesn’t get along too well with the “slow down” button, as he puts it, and that’s generally a good thing.

In a week of training camp, the Jets linebacker has performed like a heat-seeking missile — even if he sometimes gets a bit too close to the quarterbacks for comfort. He has recorded four “sacks” in team drills, all the while hoping to convince the coaches he deserves more playing time outside of the pass-rush specialist niche he thrived in last season.

In Ryan’s mind, he has already earned it.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt,” Ryan said.

Maybin estimates he’s part of eight or nine more defensive packages than last season. Since the Jets brought him back in Week 4 last year, he has been teed up for passing situations, but he said he has seen an increase in his role on some of the second-down calls.

He’s also being tried at different spots on the field, in keeping with the Jets’ objective to confuse opposing offenses. Maybin says he’ll line up outside, at middle linebacker or even stem — i.e. move before the snap — from the three-technique, on the outside shoulder of the guard.

“It confuses the offense a little bit, and it kind of opens up some things for you,” Maybin said. “Any time you give the offense a look they are not used to, sometimes there is a little bit of leakage that goes on. I am looking to take advantage of that.”

Maybin was the Jets’ sack leader last year, recording six in just 13 games. He believes there is “no ceiling” this season for both himself and the Jets defense. He added weight this offseason (he’s currently 245 pounds), in order to play on more downs. He’s even working as a gunner on special teams, shrugging, “I’m pretty fast, so it’s working out pretty well.”

As he happily sees his role expanding, Maybin remembers what a difference a year makes. Last August, he was released by the Bills, two years after they drafted him No. 11 overall.

“It is hard to say that you are satisfied, but I am saying this is probably the most fun I’ve had in a training camp in my career,” said Maybin, who is entering his fourth season. “You have people that see all the extra work you are putting in; you don’t feel like it is going unnoticed. That’s the one thing I can say is rewarding, because I can’t always say that I felt that way.”

The Penn State product is also driven by his desire to be a positive example, and a resource, for younger Penn Staters — particularly in the wake of the sex-abuse scandal that has rocked the university. The NCAA handed down extensive sanctions to the football program, which Maybin called “unfortunate.”

On the first night of training camp, Maybin stood up in the team meeting and asked his teammates to go ahead and get out any critical comments about his alma mater, and then drop the issue. His hope is to be a support system for some of the current students and players at Penn State, who are trying to make sense of their futures during a surreal and transformative period for the school.

“It is a really ugly situation … it’s something that’s going to take a while for the dust to kind of clear,” Maybin said. “It’s always been important to me to represent the school in a certain light, and that hasn’t changed.”